You can only achieve as much as you put yourself out there - networking with the right people is essential, making yourself seen is also important. bonuses are handed out for good project work and is something to work towards. office culture is good, less politics than the english offices, flexible working hours, generous holidays and overtime system, bosses are generally nice people.

Cons

favoritism(director level and up) - if you are good looking, smile and laugh a lot then you will get noticed more and more opportunities will be given to you - regardless of the output of your work. This negates other smarter people who might be slightly more introverted but know the business and can contribute on a wider scale. this culture impedes the growth of genuinely smart people who can potentially contribute more. This is something that is evident in the Hamburg offices.

Advice to ManagementAdvice

treat people equally and they will grow and make your business stronger, they will be more willing to make a contribution rather than feeling sidelined for no good reason. focus on individuals to make them grow.

Great people. Outstanding Medical benefits. Somewhat flexible with time.Employees are always open to adapt and follow new strategies. There's will.Stock could be higher if practices are more organized all across the globe.

Cons

They have an Ivory Tower syndrome: Trying to decide from the UK what's best for every market in the world when THEY DON'T KNOW THE LOCAL MARKETS. If you reflect on this, you can see why they're limiting growth and success.Career aspirations are not taken seriously. It is mandatory to include them in the performance appraisals but nothing happens after that. There are no serious budgets for training.Disorganized/ Bureocratic/ politically charged company. Sales and Marketing strategies are weak at best. They keep changing every quarter or so (how are you going to measure success with so little time).The process to get investments approved is ridiculously bureaucratic and inefficient (they confuse being 'cost conscious' with fiscally responsible). Example: You can get a budget approved for a project by all levels. However, they can take away those funds at any point during the project. This creates a lot of risk of work not being delivered as planned and affects many areas of the business. I don't think they believe in best practices.

Advice to ManagementAdvice

Stop the 'DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO' modus operandi.You have great people who are willing to follow leaders with charisma.BE MORE FLEXIBLE WITH MANAGEMENT IN LOCAL MARKETS (especially the US = now your bigger market )Embrace change

Good pay and career outlook (long and stable with a promotion after after a few years). Family type company, very forgiving and room to nourish and grow skills.

Cons

Pay is normal within the tobacco industry. Key competitors are more red than this blue company, which is a disadvantage. Lack of cutthroat attitude makes the company always running one step behind. Colleagues are with the company for a long time and will still be there (blocking outlook to promote upwards).

Advice to ManagementAdvice

A plan to achieve business targets is not enough. Create a vision that people can rally for.

I have been working at Imperial Tobacco full-time (more than 10 years)

Pros

Autonomy, Engaged team. Pleanty of challenge but the ability to get things done and to have fun doing it despite being a controvercial industry. If you come to work here you will be pushed and challenged - but well rewarded. Having worked in other industries, if things get me down, I just think about how much better it is being here!

Cons

Can take a long time to get things done in terms of decisions. Very few cons in my view working in this business